Author Archives: malgor

Rare goat-sheep-donkey-boy born on local farm

DNA pool getting a bit murky.

DNA pool getting a bit murky.

A rare hybrid being that is part goat, part sheep, part donkey and part human boy child has been born on a farm on the outskirts of Harold Village.

The animal, referred to as a gooney boy, was born about two weeks ago on local farmer Lionel Garage’s farm.

The unexpected arrival is thought to be the result of mating between a goat, a sheep, a donkey and one of the potato-pickers.

Mr Garage said the cross-breeding was not intentional.  “It was a pure shock to the system,” he said, “definitely a one-off.”

“I’ve never seen anything like him before,” he told the Evening Harold, “and I come from a long line of sheep-shaggers.”

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Filed under Around Harold, Dating, DNA, Farming, Lifestyle, Nature, Pets, Sex

Mrs Miller’s Tale: Chaucer manuscript found in local kitchen drawer

Miller 2An expert from Sotheby’s has confirmed that a medieval-looking manuscript he found in the kitchen of a vegetarian restaurant in Harold is an authentic Chaucerian artefact from the mid-fourteenth century.

Restaurant owner Pippa Delaney was incredulous on hearing the news. “I can’t believe how long I’ve been saying I must sort out that kitchen drawer,” she said.

“Quaint little villages like Harold are full of priceless gems from yesteryear, tucked away in cupboards and attics,” said the Sotheby’s expert. “I just had a gut feeling in Veggie! Veggie! Veggie! although that may have been the lentil and three-bean soup.”

“Well, thank goodness he asked for a rummage in my drawers,” said Pippa, “I would have put that smelly scrap of paper in the bin for sure. The mustiness was bad enough, but the handwriting and spelling were a disgrace.”

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Big Sneeze Theory: local cosmologist ‘in with a shout for a Nobel’

Cosmic Microwave Background.  Now wash your hands.

Cosmic Microwave Background. Now wash your hands.

The beginning of the Universe has always perplexed the human mind.

But new findings by some of the most powerful telescopes in the world have given credence to the Big Sneeze Theory first propounded by Harold cosmologist Alec Fairchild ten years ago in the Squirrel Lickers’ Arms.

‘Professor’ Fairchild, as he’s known locally, has put in his claim for a Nobel Prize, supported by Eddie, landlord of the SLA.  “I remember it well,” Eddie told the Evening Harold, “he was expounding his sneezing theory left, right and centre.  In the end, I had to ask him to leave to prevent a flu epidemic.”

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Harold architect planning to convert his house back into a barn

barn

Artist’s impression of completed barn re-conversion.

Touched by the plight of lambing sheep stranded on the Somerset Levels, Harold architect Joseph Blythe has applied to Harold Council for permission to convert his high-spec open-plan living accommodation back into the barn from which he created it a decade ago.

“It’s a long-term job that’s going to cost a lot of money,” he said, but remains undaunted by the scale of the project, which involves ripping out the balconied mezzanine above the main living area and replacing it with a simple hayloft and digging up the Italian stone floor tiles to create a soil-level sleeping area for the sheep. Continue reading

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Filed under Around Harold, environment, Farming, floods, Lifestyle, Nature, Pets

Energy comparison website boxes ‘too small’ complains Ukraine

Gazprom

Ukraine ‘never got letter from Gazprom about price increase’.

Ukraine has left angry messages on several utility comparison websites, complaining that the boxes for entering annual kilowatt hours for gas consumption are far too small.

“It was bad enough having to convert 55 billion cubic metres into kilowatt hours,” said Ukraine’s Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan, “then really annoying to find the box was too small for all the zeros.”

Uswitch and moneysupermarket.com have both replied to Ukraine, saying they are sorry the size of the boxes did not meet the customer’s expectations.  “On the other hand,” said a spokesman for uSwitch, “we did point out that where it says ‘domestic usage’, the box is for a single household, not an entire sovereign nation recognised by international law.”

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Filed under Business, Economy, Europe, International News

Sizzling bacon flavour air freshener proving popular with laundry workers

They contain dangerous toxins and absolutely NO fresh air.

They contain dangerous toxins and absolutely NO fresh air.

Harold inventor Simon Delaney’s new household sprays have brought a ‘breath of fresh air into our homes’.  That’s the verdict on Simon’s new range of pork-based air fresheners given by workers at Dunstable Cotton Laundry.

“I work all day in an atmosphere of freshly-laundered cotton,” said Marge Pellet, “so the last thing I need when I get home is to find my husband has sprayed the entire bungalow with Tesco’s Cotton Fresh air spray.  Men, eh?”

But Delaney’s new Frying Rindless Back Rashers flavour air freshener has brought Marge a new sense of joy when she returns from work and may even have saved her marriage.  “I used to linger outside, picking up twigs and straightening the bins, but now I catch that distinctive whiff of a bacon butty coming down the path and I can’t wait to get indoors and sink my teeth into something meaty,” she said.

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Horse is ‘so last year’ UK tells China

horseface

A horse doing an impression of the Princess Royal.

His Excellency Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, has been summoned to appear before an Environment Agency Committee to answer a charge of ‘insensitivity’ over introducing yet another Year of the Horse so soon after last year’s horsemeat scandal.

“We only just put the whole sorry business of horse behind us,” said Owen Patterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.  “Now the Chinese seem intent on stirring up all the bad memories again.”

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Filed under Culture, Dating, environment, Farming, Food, Health, International News, Royals

Ley lines ‘way faster than HS2’ claims flying yogi

flyng yogi

I only smoked one spliff. It was this long.

Fresh doubts over the future of Britain’s High Speed rail network HS2 were raised today following a new ley line speed record set by flying yogi Danni Skodsborg from Scarborough.  Mr Skodsborg made the 500-mile round trip from the North East coastal town to the West Country resort of Ilfracombe and back in under an hour, using ‘nothing more than the power of thought’ to draw energy from the ancient ley line that connects the two towns.

News of the new record has led some to question whether the country should be investing in a new High Speed rail network when existing systems are shown to be faster, even if it does take a bit of ‘delving about in the dark arts’ to access them.

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Benefit claimants to be fracked for wasted energy

anti-fracking

Laid-back protesters campaigning for energy conservation.

Harold’s Dr Evans has been selected to help trial a new combined health and domestic fuel supply initiative for people suffering from conditions such as obesity and laziness, based on the same technology used in fracking for shale gas.

“Government scientists think there could a lot of re-useable trapped energy in the bodies of people who don’t get enough exercise,” said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, “especially the ones who are out of work and claiming benefits.  Fracking fat, lazy people for the wasted energy they have selfishly trapped inside themselves is one way of helping them to give something back to society.”

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Lunar robot ‘planning Christmas firework display’

moonsparkle

China may one day put a pyrotechnician on the moon.

A row has broken out between the US and China over a Christmas Day Special Event which was meant to be a surprise for everyone on Earth at Christmas.

The diplomatic row comes after NASA spotted China’s lunar robot placing Roman Candles around the edges of craters on the moon’s surface.  China has complained that NASA just wanted to spoil the surprise because they didn’t think of it.

“The US hasn’t bothered with the moon for many moons,” said Yun-Tsi Tao, head of the Chinese Space Agency.  “Now, all of a sudden, just because we put a robot up there, they’re all goggle-eyed and spoiling the surprise of the Supreme Leader’s gift to the rest of humankind at Christmas, a firework display on the waning gibbous.”

There were fears that the row could escalate after NASA observed the robot flatten the US flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong in 1969.  But the situation was defused when the robot carefully put the flag upright again, apparently of its own volition.  “We thought it had a moral conscience for a minute,” said NASA, “but, no.  It nailed a Catherine Wheel on the flagpole.”

NASA has said it had no idea the fireworks were meant to be a surprise, claiming that most people could see what was going on up there with the naked eye.  “I mean, I was looking through a pair of home-made binoculars that my 7-year-old made from a plastic kit,” said NASA spokesman Flt Lt Denver Colorado, “and I had no trouble reading the name of the factory printed on the fireworks.  Boy, they’re big rockets!”

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Local accountancy firm gearing up for their January Sale

cash

For a wad of grubby lucre, he won’t keep going on about profit margins, depreciation and capital allowances.

It’s the time of year when many self-employed people start to panic about the January Tax Return deadline.

“They catch me out every year, sneaking their brown oblong envelope in among the Christmas cards,” said Pippa Delaney, owner of Veggie! Veggie! Veggie! in Harold.  “How jolly nice of HMRC to send me a seasonal payslip.”

But help is now at hand with a local accountancy firm getting ready for their January Sale.  “We’ve got loads of special offers lined up,” said Geoffrey King, of King’s Counting House, “and some real bargains in our Down A Bit On Last Year range of simplified Tax Returns and, for the client whose dog chewed up his business records, our unique Sounds About Right range of off-the-peg accounts.”
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Henry and Hetty Numatic in acrimonious split

henrythebastard

Henry has been accused of landing a sucker punch.

Well-known cleaning couple, Henry and Hetty Numatic, have filed for divorce amid shocking new revelations about their private lives.  The new revelations follow the publication last week of an image showing Henry on the half-landing of their big house on the Dunstable Road with his electric cable wrapped round Hetty’s face.

“There was certainly a face-off,” said the editor of domestic servitude newsletter The Daily Maid.   “He looked like he was trying to strangle her and when they were pulled apart, Hetty’s face came off.  It took ages to snap it back on.”

Fortunately the damage was only cosmetic.  “It’s nothing a bit of plastic surgery can’t fix,” said Henry, dismissing the strangling allegation as nothing more than ‘a cable entanglement incident’.
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Osborne to make Autumn Statement in stunning georgette dress

catwalk

It’s the frock on the right that really says massive financial inequality to us.

The venue for the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this year will be the O2 Arena, Downing Street has announced.  “The House of Commons is far too dreary a setting for the nation’s finest showing off their finest finery,” said artistic director, Nico Rubaiyat, “but in the O2, we can give The Statement  the full son-et-lumiere makeover.  I’m working with some beautiful pinks and oranges and there’s a bit of yellow in there too.”  The show will be broadcast live on 5 December, simultaneously on BBC Parliament and Radio 1 Extra. Continue reading

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Particles of Edwin Hubble’s soul discovered by Deep Space Telescope

All kinds of weird shit going on.

All kinds of weird shit going on.

The world of science was left in confusion today after NASA picked up images of particles from the remains of Edwin Hubble.

“What’s really weird” said NASA operative Dr Lucille What “is that the images were beamed back to earth by the deep space imaging device of the same name, the Hubble Telescope.  What we witnessed was nothing short of a family reunion.”

Edwin Hubble died more than 60 years ago.  He had undoubted success with his science work, discovering that there’s a lot more space outside our own Milky Way and that the universe is expanding, but will always be remembered primarily for the role he played in bringing Chicago University basketball team their first silverware.  His basketball skills were put down to his extraordinary ability to zoom in on the target net, seeing it, as he often said, ‘in at least three dimensions’.
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Filed under DNA, Intergalactic News, Lost and Found, science, Travel

Potato found in field near Harold

spudfield

Potato ‘undressed me with his eyes’ claimed Jane Fondant.

There was much excitement in Harold today following local tramp John Horse’s lucky find of a solitary late-season King Edward in a field on the outskirts of the village.

“We had a long chat about the England back four,” said Horse, “and shared a couple of jokes about Rio Ferdinand before I realised I was dealing with an organism with far more intelligence than any English footballer.  So I popped ’im in me pocket.”

Horse successfully fought off an imaginary mob of ‘bastard thieving scavengers’ clearly intent on snatching the precious vegetable from his grasp as he made his way along the central reservation of Chiggley Moor Lane, finally reaching the sanctuary of the Squirrel Licker’s Arms.
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Harold fails in bid for Blue Flag Award for third year running

harold beach party

Brown, sticky and foul-smelling, Harold hopes to compete with Southend-on-Sea.

A meeting of the culture and amenities sub-committee in Harold has expressed disappointment over the village’s failure to win a coveted Blue Flag Award for the third year in a row.

The rejection email cited ‘poor water quality, a general lack of ice-cream kiosks, bucket-and-spade retailers and lifeboats.  Oh, and not being located at the seaside.’

But, rather than just record ‘downhearted’ in the minutes, the committee used positive thinking and came up with a proposal to give Harold a better chance of getting a Blue Flag next year.
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Entire universe is just a figment of Brian Cox’s imagination, scientists discover

Space.

Plenty of space inside Cox’s head.

A team of micro-scientists working inside Professor Brian Cox’s brain say they have found the source of the universe in a small cluster of his brain cells.  “The universe we are all familiar with in everyday life is nothing more than a holographic projection from within this man’s imagination,” said Professor Kevin Heidelberg out of Cox’s left ear.

The announcement in such a tiny voice from within Cox’s cochlea would surely have passed unheard had it not been for dentist Dr Richard Burlington, whose own ear ‘was in the right place at the right time’ as he polished Cox’s teeth to perfection.  It was a moment in time for the doctor.

“I was plunged into an existential vortex,” Dr Burlington admitted, “questions racing through my mind about the very essence of life and the universe and whether Professor Cox was himself perhaps just a character in one of Dara O’Briain’s dreams.  But I pulled myself together, tapped him on the knee and said ‘There, all done now’.”

The discovery that everything is a figment of Cox’s imagination has left a lot of people feeling slightly numb, with a sense of uncertainty as to whether they’re really here or not and whether there’s any point in anything anymore.  Worried Harold pensioner Doris Kettle said she felt ‘funny in the head.’  “I’ve been ringing the NHS helpline all day,” she told the Evening Harold, “but all you ever get is an answering machine.  Hello?”

The Indian Space Agency is particularly angry at the timing of the discovery and the Pope has spent the day pinching himself.   The UK Government has stepped in with a summons for Professor Cox to appear before a select committee and explain himself, a move which the opposition described as ‘lacking imagination and probably futile’.

Meanwhile, the Department of Work & Pensions has called for ‘calm and commonsense’.  “The best advice,” said Vince Cable, “is for everyone to relax, take a deep breath and get back to what you’re supposed to be – ” but he was cut short as he spontaneously disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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Filed under Business, Health, International News, Nature, Politics, science, Travel

‘Does my brain look big in this wig?’ Appeal Court Judges land live TV show

judges

Audience will be the judge of that.

Appeal Court Judges have landed a deal for a six-part series, to be broadcast live this autumn.  The deal follows a successful pilot episode called ‘Cameron v The Queen’ which went out live last Thursday afternoon.

Harold’s own well-loved resident actor Digby Burns, who describes himself as ‘currently laid up with a bad back,’ had the privilege of being one of those watching the pilot and has kindly written a review for the Evening Harold for a few quid to tide him over.  As a regular extra on Midsomer Murders, Mr Burns knows a thing or two about acting, especially falling flat on his face in the mud with a knife in his back.  “I’ve played that part many times for the opening credits sequence,” he said, “and the director is an absolute perfectionist.   I did 26 takes last time before she was satisfied.”
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Village Hall badly damaged during Fire Safety Awareness meeting

Fire brigade never there when you need them.

Fire brigade never there when you need them.

The annual meeting of the Fire Safety Committee in Harold Village Hall has been adjourned early after a fire broke out in the basement.  Panic set in when it became obvious that no-one at the meeting had any formal training in handling a fire extinguisher.  ‘Bucket of water,’ suggested one.  ‘No!’ screamed another.  ‘Water makes it worse if it’s the electrics.  Or is that when it’s petrol?’

The building was soon evacuated and all the attendees could do was stand by and watch as smoke began to billow out of gratings in the pavement.  News came through that the fire engine dispatched from Dunstable was held up in traffic in the Chiggley Moor Lane area, but then had to turn back due to the start of strike action.

PC Anita Flegg attended the scene and began her own investigation.  Two men in a delivery van had been spotted round the back of the building earlier in the day, but it was quickly confirmed that they were there on legitimate business.
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Thatcher Halloween flight-path looks set to give Harold sky-watchers a treat

witchy thatch

Heseltine criticised the witch for buying an American broom.

With confirmation that Baroness Thatcher’s ‘Halloween Fly-By’ route will pass directly over Harold on Tuesday, local astronomers have every chance of an excellent view of the comet-like phenomenon.

The former PM’s icy skeleton said she’s ‘really looking forward to dusting off the old broomstick and heading up North to scare the living daylights out of Arthur Scargill.’

She is due to depart Gatwick Airport at 1900 hours, regardless of the weather, flying directly over Harold before arriving in the Barnsley area around midnight. A defiant Scargill tweeted ‘Ooh, see me quaking in me pit boots, pet.’
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